Space

Scientists Simulate Formation Of A Supermassive Black Hole

The Milky Way's total mass is about 100 billion solar masses- enormous to us but average among galaxies. It spirals around a black hole that is about three million solar masses, say cosmologists. Imagine it meeting an identical twin. Were they to merg ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 9 2007 - 4:24pm

Measuring The Speed Of Cosmic Death

Using a robotic telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory, astronomers have for the first time measured the velocity of the explosions known as gamma-ray bursts. The material is travelling at the extraordinary speed of more than 99.999% of the velocity of ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 12 2007 - 3:42pm

Double Explosion Heralds The Death Of A Massive Star

A unique discovery of two celestial explosions at exactly the same position in the sky has led astronomers to suggest they have witnessed the death of one of the most massive stars that can exist. A global collaboration of astronomers, led by Queen’s Unive ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 13 2007 - 9:42am

Hidden Planet Pushes Star's Ring A Billion Miles Off-center

A young star’s strange elliptical ring of dust likely heralds the presence of an undiscovered Neptune-sized planet, says a University of Rochester astronomer Stars in the early stages of life are surrounded by dust clouds that thin out and dissipate as the ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 13 2007 - 1:54pm

Volcanoes On Saturn's Moons

Electrically charged gas in the magnetosphere of Saturn suggests volcanic activity on two of its moons. The direction of the ejected electrons points back towards Tethys and Dione. Previously it had been thought only only Enceladus was an active world. CLI ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 14 2007 - 8:56am

Astronomers Measure Mass Of Largest Dwarf Planet- And It's Not Pluto

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has teamed up with the W.M. Keck Observatory to precisely measure the mass of Eris, the largest member of a new class of dwarf planets in our solar system. Eris is 1.27 times the mass of Pluto, formerly the largest member ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 14 2007 - 6:18pm

Want To Be An Astronaut?

ESA is preparing for future human exploration missions to Mars. We are currently looking for volunteers to take part in a 520-day simulated Mars mission. To go to Mars is still a dream and one of the last gigantic challenges. But one day some of us will be ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 20 2007 - 9:44am

Researchers Simulate The Atmospheres On Other Planets

Since the discovery of an Earth-like planet around Gliese 581 20 light years away in the constellation Libra, the topic of a new home has generated a lot of excitement. Bruce Fegley, Jr., Ph.D., professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Scien ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 19 2007 - 9:15pm

A Liquid Telescope On The Moon

An international team including researcher Ermanno Borra, from Université Laval’s Center for Optics, Photonics, and Laser, have found a combination of materials that allows the creation of a highly reflective liquid mirror capable of functioning even on th ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 21 2007 - 12:56am

Cosmic Horseshoe Discovered

A team led by Vasily Belokurov at the University of Cambridge in England has found the largest optical Einstein ring known. The astronomers say the object, which they dub the Cosmic Horseshoe, provides a unique laboratory for studying what the universe was ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 23 2007 - 4:46pm